Agenda and minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th December 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2020 were agreed, subject to the following amendments.

·         Noted that the meeting was held in 2020 and not 2021 as indicated in the agenda.

·         The date the minutes went to Council to be put in the minutes.

·         Cllr Hyman asked that it be noted that he had raised clarification that the issue of the van trading on Firgrove Hill would be addressed as part of the Street Trading policy.

To receive apologies for absence and to report any substitutions

Cllr Roger Blishen submitted his apologies for the meeting.  No substitute was allocated.

To receive from members declarations of interest in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting, in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

No declarations of interest were submitted for this meeting.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10. 

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is Monday 22nd February 2021.

No questions were submitted.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is Monday 22nd February 2021.

No questions were submitted.

To receive any action taken by the Executive Director after consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman since the last meeting.

No action had been authorised since the last meeting.

There were no matters falling within this category.

The background papers relating to the following items are as set out in the reports included in the original agenda papers.

To note the minutes of the Licensing C Sub Committee Meeting held on Monday 8^th February 2021 and published on the Council’s website..

The minutes of the Licensing C Sub Committee held on 8^th February 2021 were agreed subject to some grammatical changes pointed out by Cllr Jerry Hyman.

To review feedback from the formal consultation on the street trading review.

To agree a revised Street Trading Policy (Annexe D), pass the resolution agreed at Licensing Committee in December 2020 (Annexe E), and agree a draft notice that the Council has passed a resolution on street trading and designation of consent and prohibited streets (Annexe F)

Recommendation

The Licensing Committee notes feedback on the formal consultation and agrees the draft Street Trading Policy 2021, passes the resolution agreed at Licensing Committee in December 2020, agrees the draft notice that the Council has passed a resolution on street trading and designation of consent and prohibited streets and rescinds earlier resolutions on designations of streets within Waverley.

Richard Homewood, Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services outlined the revised Street Trading Policy, resolution agreed at the December 2020 meeting and the draft notice.

Cllr Hyman had a number of queries:

·         Whether the 28 day notice period was possible in order for the policy and associated fees to go into force for the 1^st April 2021.  Richard Homewood advised that because the Committee meeting was delayed the date would have to slip to 5^th April in order for the 28 days to be adhered to.

·         Whether the café allowing a food van to sell from their car park at Firgrove Hill would be considered as part of the policy.  It was confirmed that the policy had been amended to remove ‘commercial land’ so it relates to any outside area where the public have free access.

·         4.7 c & g – both relate to the Enforcement policy but one stated ‘in accordance with’ and the other ‘in light of’.  It was felt ‘both should state ‘in accordance with’.

Action: The Committee noted the feedback from the formal consultation and:

·         AGREED the revised Street Trading Policy (Annexe D),

·         PASSED the resolution agreed at Licensing Committee in December 2020 (Annexe E), and

·         AGREED the draft notice that the Council has passed a resolution on street trading and designation of consent and prohibited streets (Annexe F)

Subject to the amendments to the implementation dates as necessary

The purpose of this report is to enable the Committee to consider comments following the consultation on the review of Waverley Borough Council’s Taxi and Private Hire Licensing policy with a view to amendment,  if appropriate. It is intended that the Policy will provide clarity for licensed vehicle owners, drivers, operators and the public as to how Waverley will undertake its licensing functions. The policy will also seek to assist the Licensing Authority in making decisions.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Licensing and Regulatory Committee considers the outcome of the feedback from the consultation of the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and agrees it, with or without amendments.

Paul Hughes, Licensing & Environmental Enforcement Manager, Outlined the comments received following the consultation on the review of the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy. He highlighted the changes that had been made to the policy and asked for comment.

The Committee discussed at length the maximum age for vehicles when first licenced  and the maximum age a vehicle should  continue to be licensed to.  Under the existing policy there was no age limit (following it being amended some years ago when there was an age limit of 4 years and 10 years respectively). The draft policy proposed it should once again have an age restriction of 3 years and 7 years.  The Committee felt that due to the current economic climate with COVID that a decision to implement this should be put back a year. Cllr Keen proposed this and Cllr Goodridge seconded.  This was AGREED by majority with Cllrs Hyman and D’Arcy voting against.

It was then suggested that the proposal should be under 4 years of age for 1^st registration and could be licensed to a maximum of 10 years old. Cllr D’Arcy proposed and Cllr Ruth Reed Seconded and this was AGREED by a majority with Cllr Hyman abstaining.

It was agreed that all the proposed dates re implementation of  age restrictions and ULEV be pushed back one year (to 01 April 2022) except for the implementation of the no written off vehicles to be licensed which would remain as 01 April 2021.

Policy amended to;

Insurance write Offs

From 01 April 2021 Waverley will not accept any new applications for vehicles that have been written off by an insurance company.

Age of the vehicle

From 01 April 2022 a vehicle submitted, for a new vehicle licence must be under 4 years old from date of first registration. Once licensed a vehicle may continue to be licensed up to the 10th anniversary of first registration.  Once any vehicle reaches 5 years of age, it becomes subject to 6-monthly tests.

Existing licensed vehicles that are over 10 years old, or that will become over 10 years old can continue to be licensed until the 31 December 2023. From 01 Jan 2024 a vehicle will not be licensed if it is 10 years old or more from date of first registration.

From 01 January 2024 a vehicle submitted, for a new application, to licence must be an Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV), as defined by the Vehicle Certification Agency.

https://www.vehicle-certification-agency.gov.uk/fcb/ulev.asp

From 01 January 2031 Waverley will only accept new applications and renewals for vehicles which are ULEV.

The Committee were shown the proposed door signage for Private Hire Vehicles and felt the rectangular sign was preferable to the oval one.  They discussed whether Hackney Carriages should also display these but it was felt this was not necessary.

Cllr Hyman advised he had identified a number of spelling and grammatical errors in the policy and would speak to officer’s offline to rectify.

It was also highlighted that due to  ...  view the full minutes text for item LIC40/20

To consider the following recommendation on the motion of the Chairman:-

Recommendation

That pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 and in accordance with Section 100B(5) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100l of the Act) of the description specified in the appropriate paragraph(s) of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (to be identified, as necessary, at the meeting).

There were no items to discuss in exempt session so the Chairman closed the meeting.